"The enemy is fleeing like rabbits!"

On the bridge of the battle ship of the German Mackensen-class battlecruiser "Prince Frederick", the veteran German Vice Admiral Paul Beinke contemptuously described the actions of the Chilean fleet. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 As far as the eye could see, the slowly falling flares reflected the embarrassed figures of Chilean ships and the columns of water blasted by large-caliber shells. In contrast to the Chilean fleet, which hastily returned fire, the artillery bombardment of the German and Argentine fleets was orderly and vigorous, but in terms of the frequency and standard of training of naval officers and men in night combat, it was the German warships in the fleet that really came into play.

According to common sense, the German fleet's rash involvement in the South American war is a dangerous move to play matches on the powder keg, but in the eyes of the ambitious leaders of the German Empire, this is a test of the psychological bottom line of the US-British alliance, and it is also a survey of the international situation. Germany could then wait for an opportunity to establish its first forward base on the American continent, gradually squeeze the US and British forces out of South America, and greatly weaken the opponent's strategic layout on a global scale.

With the authorization of Berlin, General Beinke personally led the main warships to follow the Argentine fleet, and then happened to learn that the main Chilean fleet had sailed out of Valparaíso, and after consulting with the commander of the Argentine fleet, Admiral Palau, decided to conduct an ambush at the east entrance of the Strait of Magellan. Half an hour before the battle, the "Prince Frederick" was conducting long-distance shooting training in an orderly manner, and the officers and men on board showed a first-class level from observation and correction to organizing shooting.

Captain Otto von Stral, born in 1888 and having been captain of the German capital ship for more than a year, loved it as much as anyone else, and was now intently observing the looming torpedo track on the sea, and when he was sure that it had glided past the vicinity without any threat, he left the porthole on that side and came to General Beinck.

"The problem is solved, can we chase it now?"

With his head raised at a standard 10-degree angle, his chest raised high, and he spoke slowly, completely ignoring the Chilean lightning-stricken ships that had been battered by the artillery fire:

"Colonel, we don't have to venture into the Strait of Magellan, which has complicated sea conditions, and what kind of results we can achieve under this premise depends on your performance."

"Understood!" The corners of Beinck's mouth curled, a smug smile appeared on his grim face, and he quickly returned to his usual calm expression. Immediately afterwards, he gave unmistakable instructions to his subordinate officers: the battleship pursued at full speed, fired cannonballs at the mouth of the strait from the front gun, maintained the attack posture with the forward main gun in turn, and ordered the accompanying wingman to follow closely behind the right position.

On the undulating sea, the powerful "Prince Frederick" quickly accelerated to a top speed of nearly 28 knots, the water splashed from the bow and wet the foredeck, and the whole battleship began to move up and down with a noticeable amplitude, and the black smoke gushing out of the chimney was so thick that it seemed to pour ink into clean water, and most of the Argentine ships were left behind at once, and only the standard-class light cruiser "Zanders", which also belonged to the German Navy, and two newer Argentine destroyers could keep up with its rhythm. Even at such high speeds, the front main and auxiliary guns of the "Prince Frederick" can still shoot with relatively accurate accuracy, and only a high-level ship firing stabilizer can achieve such an effect!

The speed difference of nearly 10 knots made the pursuing German-Argentine ships quickly approach the retreating Chilean fleet, and the dancing cannon flames on the sea at night made the Chileans feel the rapid approach of the enemy ships, and they could not help but be frightened. The unfortunate grounding of the Captain Pratt was already frustrating, and the fire on the flagship Admiral Latoll was even more desperate, but the crew quickly brought the fire under control, allowing the Chilean Navy's only large warship to continue its retreat with the fleet into the depths of the Strait of Magellan.

After some smoke and fire, the officers on the bridge of the "Admiral Latoll" were at this time truly disgraced, but at the moment they were in danger, and no one had the heart to complain, and Admiral Berry of the British Navy suggested that the inventive code wireless telegraph should be made on the public frequency to announce to the world that the German warships were brazenly attacking the Chilean fleet without declaring war, and that if the Germans had any scruples about their own international prestige, they might have stopped this despicable act in time.

It sounded like a good idea, but the Chilean flagship's communications equipment had been damaged during the battle, and it was now only able to issue tactical commands to friendly ships via signal lights.

"Hold on for a few more minutes!" General Gonzalez gritted his teeth and said, "The enemy does not dare to enter the Strait of Magellan, the attack will soon stop." ”

"But Krupp's 15-inch naval guns have a range of thirty kilometers." General Berry reminded that "if we can't get rid of this damn German plane, we will have to go at least thirty kilometers into the strait to get out of the situation." ”

After entering the strait, the speed of the Chilean ship slowed down significantly, and the German maritime reconnaissance plane overhead also flew into the strait. Compared with the old "Junkers" more than a decade ago, the new "Junkers" that the German Navy is now equipped with have a longer range and a larger carrying capacity, and have thrown more than 30 flares with parachutes before they have run out of ammunition, and the planes must be equipped with radio equipment for well-trained German pilots to constantly inform their warships of the direction of their targets.

The original design of the "Admiral Latoll" had almost no air defense capabilities, and at the time when it was delivered to the Chilean Navy, the military aviation of South American countries was still in its infancy, and the strongest aviation unit belonged precisely to Chile, but the British still kindly equipped the Chilean battleship with 4 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and 4 40 mm caliber machine guns, and the anti-aircraft firepower was not very strong, but it was better than nothing, and the problem was that the Chilean Navy had long paid attention to traditional gunnery and torpedo training, The naval aviation has mastered the art of dropping torpedoes in the air, but the officers and men of the fleet have few opportunities to practice air defense. In the battle at the mouth of the Strait of Magellan, they fired a lot of shells and bullets, but they did not even touch the hair of the enemy's seaplanes during the whole process, and the Chilean officers on the bridge and the foreign "monks" were only in a hurry.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the direction of the mouth of the strait, and a series of huge explosions struck, and the night was instantly dyed fiery red.

General Gonzalez's lieutenant exclaimed, "It must be our 'Captain Pratt', it's finished!" ”

"Don't panic, maybe the enemy's pursuing ship was blown up by our torpedo!" General Gonzalez's self-deceptive words may not even be believed by himself.

None of the destroyers and torpedo boats that had been sent to carry out lightning strikes were out of sight, and at this time, it was indeed possible that they would desperately resist the strong enemy at the mouth of the strait, but it was more likely that they had all been eliminated by the enemy.

After a moment, the fire at the mouth of the strait dimmed a lot, but it was clear that something continued to burn in the sheltered part of the shore. Witnessing this scene, the American and British officers present were silent, and Colonel Davis of the US Navy took the lead in drawing a cross on his chest.

General Gonzalez suddenly sighed and prayed in a low voice: "May God bless us and let the brave warriors survive this disaster." ”

Only a few minutes later, the heavy artillery fire that had been far away fell again on the "Admiral Latol", and each time three or four huge waves of water rose into the sky, and those shells fired by the medium-caliber secondary guns also fell close one after another, and four of the five pairs of main guns of the Chilean flagship were still functioning normally, but there was no reference for aiming and firing, and the suffocating tension suddenly enveloped the whole ship.

As the minutes ticked by, the collapsed Chilean fleet became a lamb to the slaughter. In the flickering strait, whenever a shrill whistle is heard, all people can do is pray silently.

The frequency of the enemy's shelling is getting closer and closer, the area of the impact point is getting smaller and smaller, and the huge "Admiral Latole" is again and again drenched by the waves of water stirred up by the shells, and the 30-kilometer voyage is as far away as reaching the other side of the world.

Another short whistling sound, this time it felt a little unusual, Huo Ran, the Chilean battleship sailing at a steady speed trembled suddenly, a large group of blazing flames bloomed in the stern, the impact of the large-caliber shell and the ensuing explosion contained such a powerful energy, nearly 30,000 tons of warship actually sank in the tail, the bow rose, and there were piercing sounds in all parts.

Unfortunately, this was an ordinary grenade and not an armor-piercing shell, otherwise the "Admiral Latoll" was equivalent to the level of defense of an early British dreadnought, and it was very likely that it would have been directly bombarded by the 15-inch guns of the German battleship.

In the next eleven or twelve minutes, the Chilean battleship was almost passing through purgatory, large and small shells fell within tens of meters, and a series of near-miss bombs continued to test the underwater protection of the battleship, leaving countless traces of shrapnel on the upper bulkheads, chimneys and exposed equipment, but during this period, no large-caliber shells directly hit the "Admiral Latoll", and after turning the next bay channel, it and most of the officers and men on the ship escaped with difficulty.

The battle, which took place at the mouth of the Strait of Magellan, lasted an hour and 22 minutes from beginning to end, and the Chilean fleet was completely defeated, and after the battle, the German battle cruiser "Prince Frederick" quietly sailed away from this sea area with its wingmanship, and handed over the task of cleaning the battlefield to the Argentine naval flagship "Rivadavia" and its accompanying ships. In the face of overwhelming accusations, the German government categorically denied that it had sent capital ships to participate in the naval battle of South Argentina, and the Argentine government also announced that it was the heroic Argentine Navy that used tactical deployment to annihilate the Chilean fleet.

Two months later, Chile, which had suffered heavy losses at sea and on land, was forced to pray for peace with the Argentine and Paraguayan forces, cede land and pay reparations, and hand over the renegade Argentine dreadnought "Moreno". In May of the same year, the Argentine government army announced the suppression of the rebel forces, and Uriburu won the popular election and officially became the president of Argentina.

In June, high-ranking representatives of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Japan held a secret meeting in Washington to discuss the strategic expansion of the German bloc together.

(End of chapter)